It came after reports members of the militant Malaita Eagle Force and possibly some police and prison officers have seized key installations in the Solomon Islands capital, Honiara.

Radio Australia said the statement quoted a lawyer representing the Malaita Eagle Force, Andrew Nori, as saying Mr. Ulufa'alu has responded positively to demands of the Malaita Eagle Force and some police para-military force members.

Radio Australia earlier carried a report the rebels had seized the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation station in Honiara.

Efforts to ring Honiara from Suva this afternoon were unsuccessful.

Mr. Nori said the main demand is that Mr. Ulufa'alu resign voluntarily, Radio Australia reported....

HONIARA, Solomon Islands (June 5, 2000 – Radio Australia)---A militia group in the Solomon Islands that has been one of the two combatants in an ethnic civil war on the country's central island of Guadalcanal has attempted to seize control through a coup.

Radio Australia correspondent Sean Dorney reports that the Malaita Eagle Force has taken control of a number of key installations in the capital, Honiara:

"The Malaita Eagle Force was established last year by young men from the heavily populated island of Malaita to do battle with the Isatabu Freedom Fighters - a militia group from Guadalcanal who had begun attacking and terrorizing Malaitan settlers on Guadalcanal.

"According to people in the Solomons who've contacted Radio Australia the Eagle Force had given the Parliament a deadline of today to pay a massive compensation claim for the property of Malaitan people destroyed by their Guadalcanal...

SUVA, Fiji Islands (June 4, 2000 – Pasifik Nius/Niuswire)---One of the features of Fiji's political crisis is the vigorous and pungent tone of debate in the three national newspapers in spite of military rule and the revoked 1997 constitution with its guarantee of free speech.

While civil society debate has narrowed sharply since elected Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and his sacked government were kidnapped and held hostage in Parliament on May 19,...

They say the militant Malaita Eagle Force and possibly some police and prison officers have seized the police armory and the country's telecommunications facilities.

They are calling for the removal of Prime Minister Bartholomew Ulufa‘alu and the police commissioner, the radio reports say.

Sean Dorney, of Radio Australia, reported this morning:

"The Malaita Eagle Force was established last year by young men from the heavily populated island of Malaita to do battle with the Isatabu Freedom Fighters - a militia group from Guadalcanal who had begun attacking and terrorizing Malaitan settlers on Guadalcanal.

"According to people in the Solomons who've contacted Radio Australia the Eagle Force had given the Parliament a deadline of today to pay a massive compensation claim for...

The Pacific Concerns Resource Centre (PCRC) regrets the deposing of His Excellency the President, Ratu Sir Kamisese Kapaiwai Tuimacilai Mara, and the declaration of martial law in Fiji.

Speaking on behalf of the PCRC in Suva Fiji, Ms. Losena Tubanavau-Salabula said that PCRC recognizes the efforts of Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF), to peacefully resolve the current crisis.

"Ideally, we would prefer the restoration of the deposed government that was democratically elected by the people of Fiji in May 1999. However, given the current state of affairs, if Commodore Bainimarama deems it necessary to appoint an interim government, we believe that it should comprise representatives of the deposed government, the indigenous people of Fiji and all other communities co-existing in...

HONIARA, Solomon Islands (June 5, 2000 – Radio Australia)---The leader of the Solomon Islands Labor Party says the country's Prime Minister, Bartholomew Ulufa‘alu has been held captive since 6:00 a.m. as part of a coup unfolding in the capital, Honiara.

Joses Tuhanuku, a former Solomon Islands MP who is currently in Canberra, said he was in contact with colleagues in Honiara before phone lines were cut off.

He said the coup was sparked by similar events in Fiji and that he's been told the group calling itself the Malaita Eagle Force is responsible.

"There are two ethnic groups that have been in conflict over land issues, and it's not very clear yet over what the demands are and who may be really responsible, but the little bit I heard from home is that the Prime Minister has been held since 6:00 a.m.," he said.

There will be a live one-hour TV forum on education centering on the challenges that Samoan students are experiencing in schools in the USA and possible solutions. The first one-hour program (a three-part, one hour series) will be aired live on TV-SAMOA (Honolulu, Hawai‘i) on Channel 53 on Sunday, June 4, 2000 at 1:00 PM.

The second and third programs in the series will be aired at a later date on TV-SAMOA in Hawai‘i, California and Washington.

The Workers’ Group meeting at the 88th Session of the International Labour Conference, having received reports on the serious situation prevailing in Fiji,

NOTED with deep concern that the declaration of Martial Law and the setting up of an interim military government that will rule by decree shows the complicity of Fiji’s military to the unlawful and undemocratic actions of the terrorist George Speight,

CONVINCED that the military’s capitulation to the principal demands of the terrorists explains its lack of resolve in upholding the rule of law since the hostage crisis erupted,

EXPRESSES its solidarity and support to the Fiji Trades Union Congress in their struggle for the restoration of the 1997 Constitution and the democratically elected Government of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry,

CONDEMNS the actions of the terrorists and their use of arms and hostages to force the overthrow of the democratically...

Pacific Islands Report is a nonprofit news publication of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Offered as a free service to readers, PIR provides an edited digest of news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific Islands region, Monday - Friday.